1940s | Karavansara

Now here’s something… unusual.
An operatic version of Homer’s Odyssey, set to music in 1765 by Gluck*, and represented in 1940s costumes and setting.

The opera is Telemaco, ossia L’isola di Circe (Telemachus, or Circe’s Island).
I like the setting quite a lot.
The idea of Ulysses as a lost flyer is quite interesting.
And when Circe the sorceress as an Oriental Dragon Lady gets into play, the whole thing assumes a curious pulp tone.

Here’s a first excerpt – you can find the rest on the Tube.
Enjoy!

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*The libretto for the opera was written by a guy called Marco Coltellini – which of course means Mark Small Knives, in Italian.

Ancient Worlds: The Island of Circe

Today’s media-related post requires a little bit of introduction.

Jane‘s Journal, Or the Diary of a Bright Young Thing was a pretty risque British comic strip in the thirties, designed by Norman Pett.
Basically, stories about an ingenue that would be shown as often as possible in her underwear.
The author used his wife as a model for the character.

But, with the Second World War, Jane took a more active role in the conflict, and was now based on Crystabel Leighton-Porter (who would later reprise the role, live, for a quite popular… strip show). Continue reading →